Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Print Price: $81.50

Format:
Hardback
304 pp.
20 halftones, 6.125" x 9.25"

ISBN-13:
9780190236984

Publication date:
September 2022

Imprint: OUP US

Analytical Essays on Music by Women Composers: Concert Music, 1900-1960

Edited by Laurel Parsons and Brenda Ravenscroft

Through musical analysis of compositions written in the first half of the twentieth century, Analytic Essays on Music by Women Composers: Concert Music, 1900-1960 celebrates the achievements of eight composers: Alma Mahler-Werfel (1879-1964), Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), Dame Ethel Smyth (1858-1944), Ruth Crawford (1901-53), Florence B. Price (1887-1953), Galina Ustvolskaya (1919-2006), J. M. Beyer (1888-1944), and Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912-90). Written by outstanding music theorists and musicologists, the essays provide thought-provoking in-depth explorations of representative compositions, often linking analytical observations with questions of meaning and sociohistorical context. Each essay is introduced by a brief biographical sketch of the composer by editors Laurel Parsons and Brenda Ravenscroft.

This collection - Volume 2 in an unprecedented four-volume series of analytical studies on music by women composers - is designed to challenge and stimulate a wide range of readers. For academics, these thoughtful analytical essays can open new paths into unexplored research areas in the fields of music theory and musicology. Post-secondary instructors may be inspired by the insights offered in these essays to include new works in music theory and history courses at both graduate and upper-level undergraduate levels, or in courses on women and music. Finally, for soloists, ensembles, conductors, and music broadcasters, these detailed analyses can offer enriched understandings of this repertoire and suggest fresh, new programming possibilities to share with listeners.

Readership : Scholars and advanced graduate students in early- and mid-20th century classical music.

Reviews

"With a rewardingly pluralistic approach to analysis, chapter after chapter demonstrates the fresh insights to be gained from their authors' application of their chosen methods to the works under close analytical scrutiny here, whose composers vary from the better-known (Ethel Smyth, Rebecca Clarke) to the less familiar (Johanna Beyer), and genres range from solo Lied to symphony, all this presented together with carefully assembled contextual information providing added insights into biographical, socio-cultural, and political factors, further enriching the analytical discourse."

--Susan Wollenberg, University of Oxford, Faculty of Music and Emeritus Fellow, Lady Margaret Hall
"Laurel Parsons and Brenda Ravenscroft have edited another important volume of analytical essays on music by women composers. With eight chapters on composers as different as Alma Mahler-Werfel, Florence Price, Ethel Smyth, Ruth Crawford, and Galina Ustvolskaya, this volume explores a wide variety of musical structures common to analytical texts - including harmony, motive, form, process, and text setting - and it also meaningfully integrates feminist theory. Everyone who cares about music, analysis, and a fuller representation of composers should have this volume close at hand."

--Michael Buchler, Professor of Music Theory, Florida State University College of Music
"Through its compelling analyses by distinguished scholars, this latest addition to the esteemed series on music by women composers will surely inspire readers to listen to, perform, and teach the exceptional works that its authors present with such care."

--Lynne Rogers, Mannes School of Music at The New School

Acknowledgements
About the Companion Website
Chapter 1. Introduction
Laurel Parsons and Brenda Ravenscroft

Part 1. Music for Voice
Chapter 2. Alma Mahler-Werfel, "Licht in der Nacht" (1901): Searching for the Light: Harmonic Cycles and Feedback Loops in Alma Mahler-Werfel's "Licht in der Nacht"
Kenneth M. Smith
Chapter 3. Rebecca Clarke, "Tiger, Tiger" (1933): Extended Tonality and Text-Setting in Rebecca Clarke's "Tiger, Tiger"
Zachary Bernstein
Chapter 4. Ethel Smyth, The Boatswain's Mate (1913-1914): A Wrinkle? Gender and Motive in Ethel Smyth's The Boatswain's Mate
Rachel Lumsden
Chapter 5. Ruth Crawford, Chants for Women's Chorus (1930): "Not yet accepted as singing": Ruth Crawford's "To An Angel" from Chants for Women's Chorus
Ellie M. Hisama

Part 2. Instrumental Music
Chapter 6. Florence B. Price, Piano Sonata in E minor (1932): Culture and Craft in Florence Price's Piano Sonata in E minor (First Movement)
Horace J. Maxile, Jr.
Chapter 7. Galina Ustvolskaya, Sonata for Violin and Piano (1952): Motivic Patterns, Repetition, and Formal Structures in Galina Ustvolskaya's Sonata for Violin and Piano
Tim Sullivan
Chapter 8. J. M. Beyer, String Quartet no. 2 (1933-34): Imagination and Method: J. M. Beyer's String Quartet no. 2
Marguerite Boland
Chapter 9. Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Sinfonia da Pacifica (1952-53): Avant-garde or Postmodern? The Melody-Rhythm Concept in Peggy Glanville-Hicks's Sinfonia da Pacifica
Victoria Rogers

Glossary
Bibliography
Index

There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.

Laurel Parsons is Full Teaching Professor of Music Theory and Co-ordinator of Aural Skills at the University of Alberta. Her research interests focus on the music of British composer Elisabeth Lutyens, Danish composer Else Marie Pade, and aural skills pedagogy related to post-secondary students with learning differences. From 2012-15 she chaired the Society for Music Theory's Committee on the Status of Women.

Brenda Ravenscroft is Professor of Music Theory and Dean of the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. Her research focuses on post-tonal American music, text and music, rhythmic organization, and pedagogy. She chaired the Society for Music Theory's Committee on the Status of Women from 2006 to 2009.

Making Sense - Margot Northey
Inventing the Recording - Eva Moreda Rodríguez
Performing Knowledge - Daphne Leong

Special Features

Follows after the editors' two other highly influential collections on the work of women composers.
Features original analyses of major works of the 20th century.
Deploys a variety of methodologies to understand the work of featured composers.
Includes a companion website of examples.